Benefits of Reiki for Pregnant Women

Can Help Ease Physical Discomfort: Reiki healing distant or in-person can be effective in relieving physical discomforts often associated to pregnancy. The female hormones associated with pregnancy often cause gastric type problems during pregnancy.  An energy healing treatment (Reiki) received during pregnancy not only helps in relaxing the gastrointestinal walls, thereby reducing the sensation of nausea (Good news for those of us who have suffered with morning (all day) sickness or are going through it at the moment), but also can aid in providing relief from hip, back or ligament pain that is often experienced by pregnant women as their pregnancy progresses through the months. In fact, taking the time out to have a Reiki treatment during pregnancy can relax you completely, greatly reducing fatigue, anxiety and the big one (especially in that last trimester) sleep problems.

Can Provide Emotional Grounding and Support: Juggling the demands related to the expectations of families (other children), jobs or a relationship with their partner can often make a pregnant woman quite stressed, fatigued, tired and weary. A Reiki treatment done during pregnancy can not only help an expecting mother stay grounded emotionally, but also can instill within a  serenity and peace that can calm her fears related to the impending pregnancy and or delivery.

Can Make the Process of Delivery Easier on Mother and Child: Reiki treatment given during the time of labor can help reduce pain associated with pelvic and back area to a great sometimes even massive extent.  Not only that it can help relax the baby and relieve it from any stress related to the birth.  It always amazes me when working with pregnant woman how much the baby enjoys the energy of Reiki and often hoggs the energy so to speak, so not only can  Reiki reduce anxiety in the expectant mother during labour, but it can also help create a wonderful, peaceful atmosphere for the baby to enter the world.

Can Help in Postpartum Recovery: The body of a pregnant woman can undergo major changes after delivery. A Reiki treatment given at this point in time can be highly healing to the physical and emotional levels of the mother and can allow her to maintain her well being during the first few weeks after childbirth.  Those first few weeks sometimes even months can be quite taxing in many different way to a mother.  A Reiki Treatment can help her adjust to the new environment, way of life and help her with the emotional and physical side of taking care of a baby more easily.

Reiki is a perfect option for all pregnant women who are looking for a more holistic way for treating both their mind and body as well as creating a strong spiritual relationship between the mother and her beautiful little bundle.  It not only helps the unborn baby stay calm and relaxed but the woman who I have worked with during their pregnancies have all seen similar effects of their baby wriggling happily inside it's mother's womb (It's both adorable and amazing to watch and feel the energy being so gently drawn towards the baby as they have their very own Reiki treatment at the same time as their mother).
 A Reiki treatment helps strengthen the body, emotions and the very spirit of a pregnant woman from within, giving her the strength and emotional balance to go through her pregnancy in a happy and healthy manner.

© Rebecca Fox R.M.

In this day and age, with the ever constant onslaught of negative energies and a bombardment of emotions, it is a mighty challenge and a huge task for Empaths and Sensitives a like to stay grounded. Even when the empath is in his/her own surroundings, at home in a seemingly safe and tranquil place, the empathic sponges are still picking up struggle, pain and heartache from the outside world.  Because of this, empaths can easily become consumed with depression, isolation, lethargic tendencies/listlessness and apathy.  Empaths can quickly and easily lose sight of why they are here, what part they play in the world and more often than not find it hard to know who they are as a person and  what it feels like to live in just their own energy.

To combat the constant feelings of the overwhelms, empaths need to protect themselves anyway they can.  As every person is different, unique and individual, what works for one will not always work for another. The best and greatest form of protection for any Empath (both newly awakened and finely tuned) is to create a strong, healthy body and a still, peaceful mind (trying to remove that monkey chatter, that is a constant in an empaths mind when first awakened).  

The techniques described here I used through my own journey as an Empath and I still use them!
Keep in mind that some of these techniques take time. Although most empaths would possibly feel an immediate sense of relief, it could take a little longer for some too.  Please don't be hard on yourself, have patience with yourself and Practice, because believe me, it certainly makes a WORLD of difference to life as an empath if you do.  My goal is to give you shortcuts so that you can train your mind as quickly as possible without getting overwhelmed.

I think the first thing I realised as a newly awakened empath is that I needed help and FAST!! I knew there were many techniques out there, but it all seemed very overwhelming and a bit, where do I even start.

This is when I first discovered the amazing healing powers of crystals. Long have they been used by the ancients from Atlantis to Ancient Egypt to heal many an ailment throughout the years.  So as an empath the first thing you want to do is protect yourself (if you are not aware of other tools the very best place to start is with a crystal or two that can help protect you without you doing much at all).  
There are many different types of protection crystals, here are a few examples to help protect you from negativity/negative energies :   Black Kyanite, Black Obsidian, Black Onyx, Bornite, Celestite, Jet, Black Tourmaline.  I would suggest going to your local metaphysical store (or online), ask to be pointed in the direction of protection and intuitively pick the crystal that resonates with you the most.  More often than not you will pick the PERFECT match for your energy and needs.  Once the crystal is in your hot little hands, don't forget to clear it before you use it, you just don't know how many people have picked up your crystal.

Around your physical body, there is a layer of your aura that is heavily connected with your environment. Its shape and condition indicate your relationship to your world.  Empaths often have a "thin skin" so to speak in relation to their shield body (that same layer of aura). When it has holes or cracks in it, empaths are more easily influenced by their environment (take on a lot, lot more as the rest of the world seeps in through the holes and cracks). Visualize a shield of energy around your physical body.  I started with an egg shape around me and when I focused I could see little cracks in my egg, i'd visualise myself fixing the cracks with a scraper filled with putty, smoothing it over the surface of the egg, sometimes in front of me, to the side, on top etc so be sure to check everywhere including below you. Other times I would use a bubble or a lipstick case (mainly because it had a top and bottom I could easily secure and no i was safe within), my intent was strong and the cracks or holes became more scarce the more I used this tool. I've used other shapes and colours over the years, pyramids, big crystals, merkabah, circular gold shapes, you can literally use anything that springs to mind. All you have to do is hold intent that you will be protected and if you trust in that, you will be protected.  See whatever you use as being radiant and complete.  Decide what color/shape would work well for you, and see it that way. Imagine the shield body as flowing and moving, It is good for it to be flexible, so you can let in what serves you, and keep out what doesn't. Snap your fingers to hold it in place, or just believe it to be so. Do this exercise regularly, before you know it, it will be the first thing you do before you feet hit the floor in the morning and set the intent for you to be protected right throughout your day.

This technique allows you the ability to filter out the information that's coming to you from every angle. With practise it becomes a really useful tool wherever you are and for many situations.
I take a deep breath in and visualise a flame in the pit of my stomach, about where your sacral chakra resides.  Then I focus on two dials below the flame.  The first one is yours and has numbers from 1-10, the second one is the rest of the world and has numbers 1-10.

The first thing I want you to do is ask yourself how is my flame looking, is it large and out of control? (Bad) Is it glowing brightly and balanced in a normal state? (Balance) Or is it very low burning? (Perfect for a situation where a lot of  filtering is needed).

If it is out of control you know that you are not filtering anything and taking on a lot of what is around you. If it is in a balanced state you are able to filter out what you want, when you want to.  If it is in a low state, i would say you are very practised at this method whether you realise it or not and have managed to turn down your flame and filter out the noise, extremely quickly (this is GREAT, this is what we are aiming for).

Okay so here's what you need to practise for this method to work effectively for you.  Look at those two dials below your flame.  I want you to visualize turning your dial to 10 (allowing only your thoughts in your mind) and then I want you to visualize turning the rest of the worlds dial to 0 (removing everyone else's chatter).  If you are having trouble doing this your mind is putting a block up, trust is the key, trust that it will work and you will see the dial move to zero and that flame drop.
If you can get the dial down just a little bit then congratulations that is a huge achievement in the right direction!!!! Keep practising and you will get there.  

Once you have turned down the rest of the world dial to zero, or as far down as you can get it I want you to take another big deep breath in......How are you feeling now?  If it's better that's awesome!! If it's even a little bit better you're quite simply amazing!! Keep practising.  I like to hurry things along when it comes to practise so I tried this for a week doing it from 10-30 times a day, depending on where I was and who I was with.  I tell you what after a week, I just had to think about that flame going right down and it was done, so don't give up before the miracle okay?

A weakened energy field allows for a lot more cracks and holes and potentially a lot more unwanted energy to seep in from the rest of the world.  When an Empath first awakens it is normally the Heart, the Sacral and the Root Chakra that I have found to be most unbalanced in my empath clients.
So what we need to do first and foremost is learn about our energy centers, how they function and how we can realign them quickly and effectively. 
I talk about this in depth in my ebook THE CHAKRA WAY.  I teach you in a quick and easy way to know what each energy center controls within our bodies, how it affects our emotional, mental and physical well being and then all the tricks and tips on how to bring yourself back into balance.  I wrote this book as a guide for anyone and everyone, but it is especially good for empaths and knowing how to really get in touch with your own energy and recognising your own energy in relation to others.  The Chakra test that is inside the book is designed to help you recognise which of your Chakras are out through answering some simple questions.  Once you have done this test a few times you will begin to just know, what's going on with your energy centers and how to effectively stop them depleting or getting icky before you know it.

Possibly one of my most FAVOURITE of clearing tools is an Epsom Salt/Sea Salt and White Vinegar bath.  A twenty minute soak and you come out feeling like a new person!  Not only is Sea Salt an excellent medicinal healer it is also deeply purifying.  It has the ability to draw out and dissolve negativity and negative energies from the physical and emotional body.  This is such an awesome clearing tool if you work around a lot of people or have spent time around large groups, or simply getting home and just feeling bogged down with the day to day stress and emotions of other people.  Not only is salt an excellent purifying and cleansing tool it's also very grounding for empaths, so all in all a WIN, WIN!

In my personal opinion I think this is why a lot of empaths are drawn to the ocean, that relaxing, rejuvenating and peaceful feeling coupled with a massive body of water just teaming with salt. 

For best results go with your gut on how much to put in your bath, I generally recommend at least half a cup of both if not more, just whatever you feel in your gut to put in.  You can also use instead of white vinegar (which does not make you or the bath smell) some essential oils or maybe even a healing crystal or two.  If you don't have a bath or you don't have enough time for a soak, you can always buy or make yourself a salt-scrub.  Just mix fine milled sea salt together with oil and rub into your skin before showering.  Not only will it dissolve unwanted negative energies, it will leave your skin feeling so smooth.  I have also been known in a real hurry to tip a half a cup of sea salt on the floor of my shower and stand on it, not as effective as rubbing it into your skin or bathing in it, but it's great for grounding and certainly does a similar job when on the run.

To do this it's all about a mind set or creating a visual for ourselves.  A special filter that we can call on in a moment to put between ourselves and the rest of the world, to only receive and keep, what it is YOU as the empath want to.  If it is something you want to allow to filter through to you, try storing the information for a later time when you can go back to it after you have maneuvered your way through this emotional obstacle where you need to keep your focus, until your well practised of course in which case your filter becomes finely tuned and you adapt to suit your own skill and needs.  

The first and my favourite is using the firewall technique.  I create the world around me into a computer, much like the matrix, everything becomes motherboards and I create a path for myself through the middle.  There is data flying all around me, but nothing is able to infiltrate my field as my energy field is a bubble and all the data just deflects off it as i move through the crowd.  I liked this idea when I first awoke because I could have a bit of fun with the data being thrown at me along the way...a little ninja style in my mind lol.

Another is..  When you are in that crowded place, and that feeling of overwhelming energy is flying at you.  Think of all that emotion and data as oil flowing your way, imagine the liquid flowing towards you in a rapid pace depending on the size of the crowd.  Now I want you to imagine that the bubble that surrounds you is filled with water.  EXCELLENT! Oil and water don't mix at all so none of that data, emotion can touch you. The oil as it hits your beautiful water bubble may create some fantastic colour combinations on the outside of your protective shield, but none of it is getting to you of course, unless you want it too.

Another is imagining that just like Moses parted the Red Sea, you are walking through a crowd and parting the people and emotions.  Instead of directly hitting you each bit of data is deflected to each side of you and you glide with ease through the middle not picking up a single emotion along the way.

Or what about the one where you make your energy field so big that there is no possible way that any other person's emotion can get near you.  Start small and see your energy shield surrounding your body, then watch as it expands to the size of a car, then a house, then your town, then the surrounding towns, then your country and go as big as you feel comfortable.  Then you are more than safe to strut your stuff wherever you happen to be.  I'm sure there are many, many more ideas and if you have something different please feel free to share it in the comments for all to benefit.

This is but a small piece of the information I have on hand and some of the many tools that I have learnt over the years.  I will be putting out a short course that goes into slightly more depth in each area as well as adding a lot of other options for Empaths, as no two are ever the same and again what works for one, may not work for another.  I hope you have enjoyed and can put to good use some of these tools or adapt them to suit your needs, just please remember it takes practise and don't get discouraged if it doesn't work for you right away.  Just keep plugging away and before you know it your babysteps have turned into giant leaps of learning, to live with what you will find to be such an amazing gift to yourself and to so many others.

Rebecca Fox R.M.

I would say I started seeing the difference in him at age 2.  Up until then he had been quite a sickly child, always had ear infections, or little sniffles, if any child was at all sick he was around, inevitably he would get the bug or infection, he suffered badly from croup,  and getting him to sleep was always an issue, okay a nightmare, but I put it all down to being a first time mum.  It will get easier I kept telling myself.

But at around age 2 something extraordinary happened.  It was as if everything speed up, he excelled in everything! His speech was incredible, speaking full sentences and being able to express himself extremely well.  I called him my little sponge, because honestly he soaked up EVERYTHING in his environment and launched himself leaps and bounds ahead of all his little friends.  He was the most popular child with his peers, everyone wanted to be close to him, because he was such fun and was always off being SUPER busy at something.  He just kept going and going and going.   Where he got this never ending supply of energy from, I had no clue but it certainly had me run ragged and many, many people telling me he needed to be on drugs to calm his energy down.  If only I knew then what I do now, i wouldn't have been so hard on myself as a parent, I wouldn't have wondered day in and day out, what i was doing wrong, and what if what I was being told was true, what if he did need drugs, what if he did have ADHD.

 Well i flatly refused to believe it!  Something inside of me said it's just not possible, I know he doesn't need drugs, it's something else and I was determined to find out just what that was at all costs.  My son is an amazing sensitive, huge hearted little guy and this other side to him well there had to be a reason and I was definitely not going to listen to others about drugs, that was not even on my radar as a choice.  I would find, research, read and study him and whatever I could find until I could help my son stay in balance as much as possible.  As a parent that's all any of us want for our children, for them to feel loved and be happy.  Well of course he's an empath, he just picked up on 20+ preschoolers never ending energy and then wiped himself out at the end of it, clearly not his fault just a lack in understanding on both our parts and or how to manage it.

Because of his learning speed I enrolled him in a Montessori because I thought well it would be the perfect environment for him and was all for teaching children amazing things from a very young age.  He LOVED it, in fact he thrived on it.  Looking back I believe the balance of alone time with socialising on a much smaller scale helped him immensely navigate empath waters.

As a preschooler I quickly learnt that the way to handle his never ending energy was to also match his sleep patterns to fit.  Even though the child could keep going, it become VERY obvious that he also needed exactly 12 hours sleep a night to match.  The problem was how to get him into bed?  It was a fight every night, if i didn't get him to bed at the exact time he needed to, he could be up for hours.  It was almost like if I didn't run to clockwork or their was an upset in his routine, by george did I pay for that for at least two days after, with his emotions all over the place, anger, grief, just completely beside himself, to the point where some days I would just have to shut him in his room and pray that the toys that would be thrown around the room and towards the door wouldn't in anyway hurt my little guy. I had no idea what to do as a mother with this, how to protect him from himself, how to handle those intense tantrums which could result in not four seasons in one day, but several different levels of emotion in a half hour and that was a smaller tantrum, some of the longer one's could go on for up to two hours, before pure exhaustion hit and he'd managed to identify with his own energy again.  I now realise that as an empath child that 12 hours awake, 12 hours sleep was crucial to balance within his tiny little self and crucial to the empath as a way of refueling their tanks, so he could cope with the level of emotion in the world that surrounded him the next day and not suffer from chronic fatigue that i'm sure hits many empathic children amongst a myriad of other things they are drugged for.

It's amazing how quickly as a parent you start to adapt your own behaviour to cope with your child without even realising it.  I realised after much trial and error that the only way to deal with the level of emotion that ripped through my child, was not to get angry with him, not to get frustrated with him but even though some days I was exhausted the only way i could calm him down, was to allow the emotion to rip through him in his own space, with no one around and when he had calmed down, to not get angry with him (because if I did, he would match it and give it back x 10 and then it may start all over again) but to just sit with him tell him how much I loved him and let him settle back into his own energy.  Oh how I wish i knew then, what I do now, I could have helped him so much more.  If there's one piece of advice I could give the parent of an empath now, it would be to focus on keeping your own emotions as level as possible when dealing with an empath child, keep calm, centered and focused on a positive outcome for both you and your child.  That way you create a safe, peaceful space for them to relax and find their center again.  Their behaviour on some level just isn't their fault, but it's up to us to nurture our empaths and provide them with strategies to help them the best way we can in an environment where if we can't homeschool them, they have to be a part of.

Well everything went semi smoothly until he hit school.   Up until then he had been surrounded by smaller amounts of children and never a full day like at school, in fact he was still taking afternoon naps to rejuvenate after pre school for at least 2 hours every day right up until the week before he hit age 5.  I was excited for him to start school as that never ending energy I thought was bound to slow down with a full day and no sleep.  And he was so good at socialising and making friends, I thought he would be home and hosed.  Oh how little did I know.......

©Rebecca Fox R.M.